James Fallows says hizzoner would feel right at home in China:
At restaurants here, everyone's mobile phone is out on the table, next to the chopsticks. (Except for the ones being yelled into between bites.) There's perfect coverage in subways and elevators, so the (yelling) conversations need never stop. Also at business meetings and in museums. And during lectures, when -- four times now in my presence -- the speaker stops to take a call mid-speech. The first two times I rolled my eyes, then noticed I was the only one doing so. Now, like everyone else in the crowd, I make a quick call myself.
Giuliani's cell-phone habits are the subject of this well-reported John Fund piece:
The fact is that people inside the Giuliani campaign are appalled at the number of times their candidate has felt compelled to interrupt public appearances to take calls from his wife. The estimate from those in a position to know is that he has taken such calls more than 40 times in the middle of speeches, conferences and presentations to large donors. "If it's a stunt, it's not one coming from him," says one Giuliani staffer. "It's an ongoing problem that he won't take advice on."
I heard about two such happenings yesterday. Here's the question: What happens the next time Judi Giuliani calls her husband while he's giving a speech? One's first instinct may be to assume Giuliani won't ever interrupt a speech for a phone call again. But then one should realize that we are talking about Rudy Giuliani here. This is a man who does not back down easily.